AevnsGrandpa
Contributor
The day started as a rather crisp thirty something degree morning in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. My dive buddy picked me up at around 7:30 am and we started in on the hour and a half drive to High Springs, Florida where Ginnie Springs is located.
The drive was nice, taking us out into the back area of north central Florida. Lots of cows. Gave us time to get acquainted with each other as we had only emailed each other up to this point.
We made it to Ginnie Springs and drove up to the dive shop/store to go in and register and get our rental gear. They have a beautiful shop for all the different activities they have there. Anyway, I being the smart type had put my log book and c-card in my luggage where all my scuba equipment was so I needed to get it from the back of my dive buddys truck. I hopped up and opened up my luggage and pulled what I needed out and decided to just jump down from the tailgate and head on in. Well, as my wife would tell you, Im not 20 any more and I should be watching what I jump from and on since I had knee surgery many years ago. I hit the ground and my bad knee tried to bend sideways and crack, I was down on the ground.
Fortunately, at least for my pride, my dive buddy was already in the dive shop. I breathed heavily for a while, got my self up and walked a bit, limped a bit I mean. Here I am, 1000+ miles away from home, taking the day after Christmas to go diving instead being with my daughter whom we came to visit, and now I can hardly walk with just a jacket on let alone all my gear. Do I call it right then and there or do I go on .. I go ahead and dive!!
I hobble my way into the dive shop and try to explain to my dive buddy and the guy at the counter my faun par. We give the guy our c-cards and let him know what rental equipment we need. My dive buddy just needed a tank; I needed some weights, a primary light and of course a tank. You pay for it there at the front counter and they give you a sheet for the rental gear. My dive buddy drove the truck around to the back of the building to where the rental gear area was. We gave the guy there the sheet for the gear and were given the 2 tanks, dive light and the weights I needed. My dive buddy hefted the 2 tanks into the back of the truck and I grabbed the light and weights. We hopped back in the truck for the long 30 second drive to the first dive area at the basin or ball room.
The temp had worked its way up to around 43 degrees or so. Felt great to me, being from Illinois, but my dive buddy said he was freezing. This area has a picnic area, picnic tables, and restrooms with showers. We hauled our gear out to a picnic table and got all set up. Being a very new OW diver and not dived since September, my dive buddy made sure I was geared up properly and had not forgotten anything. This also would be a first try for the used U.S. Divers regs and Sherwood console I had just picked up and had serviced before the trip. We were all set, everything in its place.
They have a large deck and steps there where you go into the water. We walked ourselves down and held on to a tree right next to the steps to put our fins on. The shallow area is rocky and rather slick, so we shuffled carefully over to the deep water. We descended and just looked around the basin. It was beautiful. The sun shining down through the water was causing thousands of rainbows on the bottom. There was a fair amount of small fish investigating us. We continued to swim around the basin for a while looking at it all and looking up at the surface, enjoying the beauty of it all. I then felt as if my left fin was going to fall off and my dive buddy saw that my strap had come off. We surfaced and swam back over to the stairs and discovered a small pin that the strap looped around had come off. My dive buddy was able to re-attach it with a tie wrap. We descended again, turned our lights on and went into the large cavern area that is ok for OW divers to go into. This was very cool. Pools of air on the ceiling looking like mercury and the view back to the surface was great. We continued further down to the grate that has been placed in front of where the spring flows from. There was a strong current so you could swim up to the grate and then have it push you back. We swam around and investigated the various holes that have been etched out of the limestone. The water temp was 70 degrees or so. Vis was 100+. Having only swan in gravel pits, the clarity of the spring water was awesome.
We came back up to the shallow area and swam slowly down toward the Santa Fe River. The current was mild coming from the spring so we could just go with the flow. We went almost all way down to where the spring area feeds the river. You could definitively tell where the river started because of the drop in visibility. My dive buddy was able to spot a turtle in the river, but I couldnt see it for the life of me! We then turned around to head back to the basin. What effort we didnt use to get down to the river we had to on the way back! I can now understand all the things they teach you about currents and drift diving and not trying to swim against the current. With a bad knee I was only able to really kick with one so I think I used up about half my air just swimming back.
We both still had enough air to go over to the Little Devil-Devils eye area. Little devil was first. This is little more than a crack that you can drop down into. Depth was about 26 fsw. Very nice looking back up at the surface. There was some moving you could do to look around but not much. Easy to bump yourself into the walls if you are not careful. We came up and swam over the short distance to the Devils Eye. This is an almost perfect circular hole that goes down 20 feet or so. Very cool. Here is an entrance to the cave system and that wonderful grim reaper sign warning divers of the danger. Some divers must have been down in the cave system as we saw a deco tank next to the cave entrance. Went back up and over to the Devils ear. This is a larger crack than Little Devil. Felt the flow of the spring coming out, pushing me back to the surface. Had to hang on to the buoy anchor chain to pull my self down so I could look things over. We surfaced and decided it was time to get the tanks refilled and eat some lunch.
Ginnie has a nice little deli/grill with a large variety of selections. We ordered our food and hot chocolates and went out to a picnic table in the sun to eat and fill out our dive logs. My dive buddy needed warmed up!
My dive buddy pulled the info from his computer for our logs. Since we had gone up and down a few times and swam in the shallows of the spring area he had to do some calculations to get all the info together into the 2 actual dives we did. I went to the front counter and paid for the refills for both tanks. You get round plastic tokens to take to the rental/air station to prove you paid for it.
My hat goes off to my buddy. Since I hurt my knee, he carried my tank and other equipment if needed and just been an all around great guy!
We took our filled tanks and headed back to the basin and went down in the cavern area again for a further detailed look. My dive buddy had mounted his back up light to his mask strap to see how it would work. It gave a nice bright, tight beam. Only problem was whenever he needed to look at me he had to cover it so it would not blind me. I had rented a lantern style UK D8. Nice and bright but the balance when you held it by the handle was bottom heavy. I would have preferred a pistol grip instead. We found some large air pockets, big enough that you could put your arm up inside of them. The air to me felt warmed than the water. We came back out of the cavern to the basin. I spotted a small turtle. Had a large head and a pointed snout. Will have to look up what kind it was. It must have seen me also as it took off as I followed it and hid under a rock ledge. I got my dive buddys attention and we held still till it came back out and hurried across to the shore and went up underneath the root of a tree.
I surfaced afterwards with my dive buddy right behind me. My knee was really starting to bother with my diving and since I have always heard that diving is supposed to be fun; I asked my dive buddy if we could call it a day.
Summary Ginnie Springs is a great place to dive from beginners to established divers. It provides a wide variety of dive experiences all in a small area with great extras, (like those hot showers!) The dive shop is hosted by experienced friendly people and carries most anything you would need for a day of diving. I plan on going back when some time when Im in Jacksonville again. This dive also taught me the absolute need for a buddy. If it was not for my dive buddy and his help and repair kit, I would not have had the enjoyment of this dive. Ginnie Springs is dive that all divers should try and experience at least once.
The drive was nice, taking us out into the back area of north central Florida. Lots of cows. Gave us time to get acquainted with each other as we had only emailed each other up to this point.
We made it to Ginnie Springs and drove up to the dive shop/store to go in and register and get our rental gear. They have a beautiful shop for all the different activities they have there. Anyway, I being the smart type had put my log book and c-card in my luggage where all my scuba equipment was so I needed to get it from the back of my dive buddys truck. I hopped up and opened up my luggage and pulled what I needed out and decided to just jump down from the tailgate and head on in. Well, as my wife would tell you, Im not 20 any more and I should be watching what I jump from and on since I had knee surgery many years ago. I hit the ground and my bad knee tried to bend sideways and crack, I was down on the ground.
Fortunately, at least for my pride, my dive buddy was already in the dive shop. I breathed heavily for a while, got my self up and walked a bit, limped a bit I mean. Here I am, 1000+ miles away from home, taking the day after Christmas to go diving instead being with my daughter whom we came to visit, and now I can hardly walk with just a jacket on let alone all my gear. Do I call it right then and there or do I go on .. I go ahead and dive!!
I hobble my way into the dive shop and try to explain to my dive buddy and the guy at the counter my faun par. We give the guy our c-cards and let him know what rental equipment we need. My dive buddy just needed a tank; I needed some weights, a primary light and of course a tank. You pay for it there at the front counter and they give you a sheet for the rental gear. My dive buddy drove the truck around to the back of the building to where the rental gear area was. We gave the guy there the sheet for the gear and were given the 2 tanks, dive light and the weights I needed. My dive buddy hefted the 2 tanks into the back of the truck and I grabbed the light and weights. We hopped back in the truck for the long 30 second drive to the first dive area at the basin or ball room.
The temp had worked its way up to around 43 degrees or so. Felt great to me, being from Illinois, but my dive buddy said he was freezing. This area has a picnic area, picnic tables, and restrooms with showers. We hauled our gear out to a picnic table and got all set up. Being a very new OW diver and not dived since September, my dive buddy made sure I was geared up properly and had not forgotten anything. This also would be a first try for the used U.S. Divers regs and Sherwood console I had just picked up and had serviced before the trip. We were all set, everything in its place.
They have a large deck and steps there where you go into the water. We walked ourselves down and held on to a tree right next to the steps to put our fins on. The shallow area is rocky and rather slick, so we shuffled carefully over to the deep water. We descended and just looked around the basin. It was beautiful. The sun shining down through the water was causing thousands of rainbows on the bottom. There was a fair amount of small fish investigating us. We continued to swim around the basin for a while looking at it all and looking up at the surface, enjoying the beauty of it all. I then felt as if my left fin was going to fall off and my dive buddy saw that my strap had come off. We surfaced and swam back over to the stairs and discovered a small pin that the strap looped around had come off. My dive buddy was able to re-attach it with a tie wrap. We descended again, turned our lights on and went into the large cavern area that is ok for OW divers to go into. This was very cool. Pools of air on the ceiling looking like mercury and the view back to the surface was great. We continued further down to the grate that has been placed in front of where the spring flows from. There was a strong current so you could swim up to the grate and then have it push you back. We swam around and investigated the various holes that have been etched out of the limestone. The water temp was 70 degrees or so. Vis was 100+. Having only swan in gravel pits, the clarity of the spring water was awesome.
We came back up to the shallow area and swam slowly down toward the Santa Fe River. The current was mild coming from the spring so we could just go with the flow. We went almost all way down to where the spring area feeds the river. You could definitively tell where the river started because of the drop in visibility. My dive buddy was able to spot a turtle in the river, but I couldnt see it for the life of me! We then turned around to head back to the basin. What effort we didnt use to get down to the river we had to on the way back! I can now understand all the things they teach you about currents and drift diving and not trying to swim against the current. With a bad knee I was only able to really kick with one so I think I used up about half my air just swimming back.
We both still had enough air to go over to the Little Devil-Devils eye area. Little devil was first. This is little more than a crack that you can drop down into. Depth was about 26 fsw. Very nice looking back up at the surface. There was some moving you could do to look around but not much. Easy to bump yourself into the walls if you are not careful. We came up and swam over the short distance to the Devils Eye. This is an almost perfect circular hole that goes down 20 feet or so. Very cool. Here is an entrance to the cave system and that wonderful grim reaper sign warning divers of the danger. Some divers must have been down in the cave system as we saw a deco tank next to the cave entrance. Went back up and over to the Devils ear. This is a larger crack than Little Devil. Felt the flow of the spring coming out, pushing me back to the surface. Had to hang on to the buoy anchor chain to pull my self down so I could look things over. We surfaced and decided it was time to get the tanks refilled and eat some lunch.
Ginnie has a nice little deli/grill with a large variety of selections. We ordered our food and hot chocolates and went out to a picnic table in the sun to eat and fill out our dive logs. My dive buddy needed warmed up!
My dive buddy pulled the info from his computer for our logs. Since we had gone up and down a few times and swam in the shallows of the spring area he had to do some calculations to get all the info together into the 2 actual dives we did. I went to the front counter and paid for the refills for both tanks. You get round plastic tokens to take to the rental/air station to prove you paid for it.
My hat goes off to my buddy. Since I hurt my knee, he carried my tank and other equipment if needed and just been an all around great guy!
We took our filled tanks and headed back to the basin and went down in the cavern area again for a further detailed look. My dive buddy had mounted his back up light to his mask strap to see how it would work. It gave a nice bright, tight beam. Only problem was whenever he needed to look at me he had to cover it so it would not blind me. I had rented a lantern style UK D8. Nice and bright but the balance when you held it by the handle was bottom heavy. I would have preferred a pistol grip instead. We found some large air pockets, big enough that you could put your arm up inside of them. The air to me felt warmed than the water. We came back out of the cavern to the basin. I spotted a small turtle. Had a large head and a pointed snout. Will have to look up what kind it was. It must have seen me also as it took off as I followed it and hid under a rock ledge. I got my dive buddys attention and we held still till it came back out and hurried across to the shore and went up underneath the root of a tree.
I surfaced afterwards with my dive buddy right behind me. My knee was really starting to bother with my diving and since I have always heard that diving is supposed to be fun; I asked my dive buddy if we could call it a day.
Summary Ginnie Springs is a great place to dive from beginners to established divers. It provides a wide variety of dive experiences all in a small area with great extras, (like those hot showers!) The dive shop is hosted by experienced friendly people and carries most anything you would need for a day of diving. I plan on going back when some time when Im in Jacksonville again. This dive also taught me the absolute need for a buddy. If it was not for my dive buddy and his help and repair kit, I would not have had the enjoyment of this dive. Ginnie Springs is dive that all divers should try and experience at least once.
